The American Table: More Than 400 Recipes That Make Accessible for the First Time the Full Richness of American Regional Cooking

by Ronald Johnson

Book Overview

Johnson's lively recreation of the genius of American cooks served as the foundation of a great new school of American cooking. In The American Table he reveals a heretofore unimagined treasure trove... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688022480
• ISBN13: 9780688022488
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 419 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Best Written Cookbook with Recipes for a Lifetime

Mr. Johnson has gone well beyond a simple compilation of various American dishes (such as published by most churches); this is a masterful selection of America's best. It is wonderfully regional, historical (want to make a recipe from Thomas Jefferson? You'll find several in here), and varied. This book is for people who love to cook, who like homemade food, who remember great meals made by Mothers, some Fathers (such as my own), and Grandmothers; you will find those meals within the pages of this book. It is unpretentious and uncomplicated, full of charm and comfortable like part of the family. It contains a multitude of indispensable recipes. In addition it is the best written cookbook I have ever read. Every recipe is accompanied by a description that gives the reader an excellent idea about what to expect; it is a joy to read. I don't understand how it can be out of print (hint - don't wait to pick up a copy - it will soon be too late). I also don't understand how some reviewers gave it only four stars; this is the nearest thing to a perfect cookbook you'll ever find.

The best of American home cooking

No finer cookbook exists. If I had my way this book would be in every American kitchen. I have given many copies as gifts. The recipes will make your family happy on any day or please your guests at a dinner party. Familiar ingredients taste entirely new and the recipes are easy to follow. The author becomes a friend as his notes reveal the historical and regional sources of the recipes and suggest why you will enjoy them. Unadulterated by the commercial foodie-industrial complex, this is real food that reveals the real genius of America's best cooks.

This presentation is simply wonderful.

From a library of 200 cook books, this is the book I normally check first when I get an inkle. Ronald Johnson is a God Damned Joy.

Excellent regional American cooking - not academic.

Most historical or regional surveys of American cooking suffer from a rather academic approach. This book presents a personal selection of recipes which still manages to be representative and historical. Most recipes are both simple and excellent. The author writes clearly, personally, and beautifully. Publisher, please reprint.

A classic of sophisticated but unpretentious Am. cooking.

I have about 50 cookbooks--maybe more--and this is one of the very best, one I use regularly. These recipes work--procedures are not complex, ingredients are not esoteric, but the combinations are fresh and interesting, and Johnson has a nice feel for "Americanness." He has clearly spent time with these recipes, creating ones that really work well. Let's hope the publisher keeps it in print